Category: Uncategorized

Blue hydrangeas

States in Monopoly

I’m blaming the blue hydrangeas. We’ve had a sparse array of purple hydrangeas in the two dozen years I’ve lived at my current residence. This year’s crop of blue flowers is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, though they’ve since wilted under the broiling sun.

This must explain why I’ve felt less than great for the last several days. Despite taking allergy medication, my head is stuffed up, my throat is scratchy, and periodically, I experience a coughing jag.

This makes me tired all of the time. Saturday night, I went to bed about 8:30 p.m. I woke up a half dozen times. Then Sunday night, I was sitting in my office chair when I fell asleep, waking up at 2 a.m.

This was very disorientating. What should I do? I should go to bed, right? Or should I play Wordle?  Seriously? OK, I’m loopy enough to do that. I got an R in the second position, and an O not in the third position. For some reason, I thought of the late comedian Richard Pryor.

Wordle 1,094 2/6 ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜AROSE 4  🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩PRIOR

Then I HAD to go to bed. I felt pretty dragged out on Monday; I didn’t even get dressed. I was required to go out on Tuesday for a library thing, but I may not leave the house the rest of the week; it’ll be 9F/33C or above.

My wife and I had installed the air conditioner on Saturday. It’s funny how no matter how many times we put it in, it’s as though we’d never done it before.

Off, eventually

Speaking of my spouse, she’s finally going to take eight weeks off this summer. But this, of course, means she has to get many things done beforehand. Also, she and her colleague had to work on student recognition and volunteer appreciation events in the past two weeks.

Our daughter and I also attended the latter event after we helped set up. There was a trivia contest and I joined a group of people I didn’t know. we started slowly, but after the middle round, we were in second place.

Then we were to name the four Pac-Man ghosts. I knew Blinky and that two others ended with inky. We guessed Pinky, though we missed Inky and Clyde, and were ahead by two.

The final question category was board gamers. we bet 79 of our 82 points. How many states appear on a Monopoly board? We guessed eight but fell short: VT, CT, VA, TN, NY, KY, IL, IN, NC, and PA Avenues plus the PA Railroad, for 11. The team in last place, with 40 points, bet it all and won. Everyone else bet it all and lost. we came in second place with our 3 points.  I should have started thinking geographically rather than alphabetically since none are west of the Mississippi River.

Outside the hall where the trivia event took place was a cute little bunny. A guy with a leaf blower, who almost certainly didn’t see the creature, terrified him.

I almost forgot: at some point in the last week, I got a second-degree burn on the side of my right hand. I had taken the lid off the boiling water, poured in the oatmeal, and attempted to set the timer when I grazed the hot lid.  

Primary day voting 2024

closed primary

Yikes! Primary Day Voting 2024 is coming up. In fact, early voting started on June 15 and runs through Sunday, June 23 at limited designated locations such as the county Board of Elections. Then, the polls will be open in New York State from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the usual locations.

I’m a registered Democrat, and unlike some states, in New York, only registered members of a political party may vote in that party’s selection process.

Albany Family Court Judge

One can vote for up to three candidates out of the five people running: attorneys Jaime Czajka, Jillian Faison, Jeffrey Jamison, and Jasper Mills as well as Judge Ricja Rice. It’s a bit humorous that a recent Times Union article about the candidates gave basic biographical information about the three women running but excoriated the two men.

In an endorsement article: “Mr. Mills, who in recent years — and as recently as last week — has found himself mired in significant controversy connected to his judgment and job performance.
“Last week, Mr. Mills found himself in the awkward position of being told by a judge in open court that he should probably stop talking as he tried to explain how the identity of a witness in a murder case in which he is a member of the defense team might have been revealed by his staggeringly bad decision to leave a discovery document in open view in a conference room.” The earlier blunder was equally stupid.
“As for Mr. Jamison, who serves as counsel to the office of Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, he recently made news for advising a co-worker arrested for DUI to turn down a sobriety test and then stayed silent as Mr. McCoy lied to the Times Union’s Brendan Lyons about the events of that evening. ” His “faulty” memory in a 2009 situation was arguably worse.
I’m voting for the women.
Albany County District Attorney
David Soares was a fresh and energetic face in 2004 when he first ran for DA and won.  Lee Kindlon is a well-known defense attorney.  I watched their debate on Spectrum News and enjoyed the interplay, in part because Kindlon genuinely seems to like Soares, noting that Lee shoveled David’sd sidewalks a few years ago when Soares was having some medical issues.
Soares disliked everything the state legislature passed regarding law enforcement, notably the Raise The Age provision passed in 2018.  Kindlon was more likely to work with whatever the parameters of the legal system were. I received a mailing in which he noted that he was a Judge Advocate in the Marines.
The Times Union endorsed Kindlon, noting, “The David Soares running in 2024 is not the David Soares we endorsed in 2012 [against Kindlon], much less the bold reformer who in 2004 ran on his opposition to New York’s draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. While some people grow in their jobs, others stagnate. In Mr. Soares’ case, we’ve seen his views harden into arrogance, and his management of the office has over the course of his fourth term descended into scandal with disturbing frequency.”
I’m inclined to vote for Kindlon, who has the Working Families Party endorsement, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
109th Assembly District, NY State Legislature
Pat Fahy, the incumbent in the 109th A.D., is running for the NY State Senate. Incidentally, I saw her at the Juneteenth celebration at the Underground Railroad Education Center on Saturday, June 15.
This means that SIX candidates are vying for the seat. In the order in which they appear on the ballot:
Gabriella A. Romero, member of the Albany Common Council for the 6th Ward, around Lark Street. I received more mailings from her campaign than any other.  Hers are also the most creative, with one with a color-by-number wildflowers of New York.  She’s endorsed by the Working Families Party and supports a “people-first policy,” including affordable housing, “great-paying union jobs, climate resistance & lower utility bills.” She was at the UREC event but I never had a chance to speak with her.
Owusu B. Anane, Common Council for the 10th Ward, leans into his personal bio. His family couldn’t afford housing in New York and had to move back to Ghana. They made it back, he was an all-state running back, then became a coach and special needs teacher. One mailing features one of his former students and his mom, with her quote, “He believed in him as much as I do, and that made all the difference.”
Ginny Farrell. Common Council for the 13th wArd, my ward, and the body’s majority leader. The Times Union endorsement notes her 12 years of work in the Assembly, and her service on the Albany Board of Education, as president, vice president, and secretary, advocating for “the contentious $180 million renovation and modernization of Albany High School. It was work that required making dozens of presentations across the city and talking to hundreds of people to sell them on a costly but essential project that required two citywide votes to win approval.”
Also
Dustin M. Reidy, Albany County Legislator for District 30 is also the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko. Someone from the SEIU union came to my door touting Reidy’s labor bona fides. He favored choice, seniors, gun control, and diversity in the four mailings he sent.
Jack Flynn,  the 8th Ward Albany Common Council member is a former Albany County Democratic chairman and a state Senate employee. He declined to meet with the Times Union editorial board, and I did not receive any literature from him. From someone’s Facebook page, I’ve seen a mailing noting that he’s the only person refusing public funding for his campaign.
I’m considering four of the candidates. What sayeth thou, 109th A.D.?

June rambling: Earthrise

all of the Tony winners

William Anders, Apollo 8 Astronaut Who Captured Iconic ‘Earthrise’ Photograph in December 1968, Dies at 90 in a plane he was flying

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: surging CO2 levels  in a year that is very likely to have the largest and most extreme series of weather events ever

EU elections: Far-right makes gains in Germany, France, Austria

Indian elections: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Scottie Scheffler Arrest is a True Crime Documentary

Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against djt have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from his media company.

The War on Rule of Law

The Federalist’s Erika Andersen thinks Dolly Parton isn’t really Christian and Newmax’s Greg Kelly worries that Taylor Swift fans are practicing “idolatry”, which “is a sin.”

Beef Days

Eating an 11,000-Year-Old Fruit

How ancient Egyptians tested for pregnancy

Linkage, including Man or Bear

How Many Young and Older Adults Lived Alone

NOW I KNOW: Survey Says: Guilty and Flood For Your Right to Party? and The Problem With Flying With Marshmallows and The House Made Out of Smartphones and especially, The School With Solar Powered Salaries

Kelly’s Sunday Stealing

Opposite snakes

Show Biz

Tonys Roundtable: Rachel McAdams, Kelli O’Hara, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Paulson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Eddie Redmayne on Broadway Paths, Parts and Pet Peeves

All of the TONY Winners

Janis Paige, Star of ‘Silk Stockings’ and Broadway’s ‘Pajama Game,’ Dies at 101

Jerry West and the Burden of Being the Logo

An oral history of Roger Corman’s unreleased Fantastic Four movie

Pat Sajak’s Final Spin: ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Host Signs Off After Four Decades

How MAD magazine was written and drawn

SCOTUS

The Supreme Court lets CFPB funding stand. Yay! This allowed the entity  to regulate Buy Now, Pay Later companies as credit card companies, create a registry of habitual corporate criminals, and fight “fine print deception”

Fix the Court published a tally of all the gifts accepted by the SCOTUS  justices who served during the last 20 years. Of the $4.7 million total, more than $4 million went to Clarence Thomas.

Samuel Alito’s Contemptuous  Opinion in a 2022 Christian Flag Case Flies in the Face of His Recusal Refusal

MUSIC

El amor brujo by.Manuel de Falla

Wrecking Ball – Emmylou Harris

Coverville 1490: The Lenny Kravitz Cover Story II and  1491: The Alanis Morissette Cover Story III

Mr. Tambourine Man, music composed by John Corigliano

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant – Middle Aged Dad Jam Band feat “Weird Al” Yankovic

Symphony No. 6, “Celestial Gate” by Alan Hovhaness

Born Under A Bad Sign – Peter Sprague, featuring Leonard Patton

Give Me One Reason – Tracy Chapman

Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: Korn and Max Eider

Wide Open Spaces – The Chicks

This Land Is Your Land – Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen

Best Albums of 2024 (First Half)

Talk about my generations

Samuel Walker

Talk about my generations. This is a photo of Samuel Walker and his grandson, Leslie H. Green. The baby Samuel is holding is Les’ first-born, who is me. Everyone in the family called Samuel Father, including me.

Samuel was born in Virginia in 1873. I am not certain who his parents were. A hint from someone else’s tree on Ancestry suggests that his father was Robert A. Walker, born 28 April 1817 in Brookneal, Campbell County, VA, and died in 1889 in Pittsylvania County, VA. Or maybe he was the son of Richard Walker of Virginia.

Likewise, another hint suggests his mother may have been Julia Cousins, a black woman born c. 1835. She had seven children aged 25 to six, all but Sam with the surname Cousins. This likewise requires more investigation. There was also a Julia Walker associated with Sam Walker.

What is clear is that Samuel married Mary Eugenia Patterson in Pennsylvania in 1899. The couple lived with one of her sisters in 1900.

Samuel and Mary Eugenia had at least nine children. Loren, b. 1906, and Mildred, b. 1919, died in infancy.

The family moved to Binghamton by 1920. The 1930 Census listed Samuel, a janitor; Mary Eugenia; Agatha H.,  my grandmother, b. 1902; S. Earl (1904-1961), Stanley E, b. 1910; Vera, b. 1912; Melissa C (1914–1955);  Jessie Garnett, b. 1916; Morris S, b. 1918. And Wesley (b. 1926).

Mary Eugenia died in 1944, so I don’t recall her.

Agatha’s siblings

I remember all of Grandma Green’s siblings who reached adulthood except Melissa. All of them in their 40s and 50s were terrified of this little old man in his 80s. But Wesley, who was really Leslie – the Census taker must have gotten it wrong – was actually Samuel and Mary Eugenia’s grandson, fathered by Raymond Cone. Maybe there was a bit of prevarication there. Les was NOT afraid of his grandfather, at least when I saw them together. 

While McKinley Green married Agatha in 1931, they were apart as much as they were together before my father’s 18th birthday in 1944, even though Mac adopted my dad and officially took his last name before then.

So, Samuel/Father was very much a father to my dad, probably more of a benevolent one than he was to his own children.  Samuel Walker died in June 1963, less than a year before my grandma Green passed away.

Sunday Stealing: most important

West Side Story

Another Sunday Stealing.

1.  What is most important to you?

Holding the door open for someone. I mean that literally, sure, but I also mean it metaphorically. In the law of the conservation of energy, it “can neither be created nor destroyed – only converted from one form of energy to another.” So if the door is already open, it doesn’t require additional energy to keep it open and let others in.

2.  Your best trait.

I observe. Then I do stuff to make a situation better, or more often, less bad. 

3.  A movie that makes you happy.

I haven’t watched it in a very long time, but Young Frankenstein (1974). “Pardon me, boy, is this the Transylvania station?” 

4.  Something that excites you.

Music excites me because, shockingly often, I play something that I had listened to dozens of times yet I hear something new. Then there are the bits that almost always excite me.

5.  Something that worries you.

As a librarian, it’s the proliferation of false information that is becoming less discernable, from AI-generated photos to other deep fakes.

6.  Actions you admire.

There are a lot. I’ll pick this fact: The Tony Awards & Carnegie Mellon University Present The 2024 Excellence In Theatre Education Award To CJay Philip Of Baltimore, daughter of my buddy Nell Stokes of Albany.

Annus mirabilis

7.  What year has been your best so far?

Maybe in 2023, when I went to France and Las Vegas. Perhaps in 2019, when I quit my job; I mean, retired. 

8.  Who do you trust?

A few people I met in 1958, 1968, and 1971. There are others. 

9.  A Song from Your Childhood.

Here are the end credits for the movie West Side Story (1961). When I was a kid and heard that bit at about 4:30, it made me weep. And it still does.   

10.  What you wore today?

I wear essentially the same thing every day, a shirt, and pants, usually black or navy blue. A hat or cap, depending on the season. Even this past Sunday, when the choir wore T-shirts, I wore a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath to cover my arms, which has splotchiness from vitiligo. 

11.  A book you are currently reading

The Undertow: Scenes From A Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet. After I heard him and others speak in Albany one evening in November 2023, he and I had breakfast the next morning.

12.  What do you want less of?

Stupid social media stuff posing as “news.” On CBS Mornings this month, one of their Talk Of The Table segments was of a woman on a social media platform ranting that she would NOT be returning her shopping cart to a collection area because she thought someone would go to her car and snatch her children. My thought: so she doesn’t bring it back. So what? Why should I care and why is CBS spending three minutes on a non-story?

Orange you wondering?

13.  A question that needs to be asked.

Is the presumptive Republican candidate for President unhinged?  At a rally this month in Las Vegas, he talked about being aboard a hypothetical electric-powered boat. “He posits that the battery would be so heavy that it would cause the craft to sink, and he relates his purported conversation with a knowledgeable mariner about this scenario.”

“I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you’re in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery’s now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’
“By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, do you notice that? Lot of sharks. I watched some guys justifying it today: ‘Well they weren’t really that angry, they bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were not hungry but they misunderstood who she was.’ These people are crazy. He said, ‘There’s no problem with sharks, they just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming.’ No, really got decimated, and other people, too, a lot of shark attacks.
“So I said, ‘There’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards, or here. Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking? Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?’ Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer.
“He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’ I said, ‘I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.’ But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that, we’re going to end it for boats, we’re going to end it for trucks.”
WHAT? And he’s told a variation on this story before.
Home

14.  The best idea you’ve had this week.

I decided NOT to go on a trip next weekend. I’ll be able to see a barbershop quartet this Friday at my church, then to visit with a friend I’ve only known since 1958 on Sunday or Monday. 

15.  How are you creative?

I was at a choir party this week, and I apparently know the bass vocal to Good Night, Sweetheart by The Spaniels.

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